👋 Hey, I’m George Chasiotis. Welcome to GrowthWaves, your weekly dose of B2B growth insights—featuring powerful case studies, emerging trends, and unconventional strategies you won’t find anywhere else.
This note is brought to you by Ahrefs.
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Author’s Note: The Why-What-How structure is not new. You will find versions of it in leadership books, management courses, and half the articles on delegation. I am not claiming to have invented it. What I am sharing is how I use it, why I think the sequencing matters, and what it looks like in practice at the work I do.
Almost every day, I communicate tasks to people.
Teammates, contractors, clients, partners.
And each day, I watch how quickly a well-intentioned request can go sideways when context is missing.
Over time, I developed a mental framework for this.
I call it the Why, What, How (WWH) framework, and once I started using it consistently, the quality of execution around me improved in ways I did not expect.
And it looks something like this:
Let’s take a look at each of these pillars.
Start with Why (no pun intended)
Most people start with the task.
“We need to build the content pipeline for Q4.”
Or,
“Can you update the comparison pages by Friday?”
The instinct makes sense: you know what needs to happen, so you say it.
But the person receiving that request is now working without a reason, aware of what you want but not why it matters or why the bar is where it is.
When someone understands the why behind a task, they make better decisions inside it.
They prioritize the right parts and push back in the right places.
Without the why, you get compliance. With it, you get judgment.
A few questions I run through before assigning anything:
Why is this important to do right now?
Why does quality matter here, or why is speed more important?
What happens if we do not do this, or do it late?
What broader context does this sit inside?
You do not need to answer all four every time.
But at least one should be obvious to whoever is on the receiving end.
Then the What
Once the why lands, the what becomes sharper.
The what is the task itself:
What we are doing and what done looks like.
Most people handle this part well; where they go wrong is sequencing, putting the what first when it should come second.
Without a why, a task is an instruction.
Add a why, and it becomes a mission, and people own missions differently than they execute instructions!
Then the How
The how is conditional.
If you are working with someone experienced who has handled this before, the how might be one sentence or nothing at all.
But when an assignment is new to someone, or when your standards differ from what they would default to, that gap is yours to close.
Share angles to consider and point out where you have seen similar work go wrong.
Give guardrails without micromanaging the path between them.
The mistake I see most often: skipping the how because you assume competence.
Competence and context are different things!
Someone can be excellent at their job and still lack the specific context for how you want this particular piece of work done.
A real example
A couple of weeks ago, I jumped on a call with one of our SEO/AEO Strategists at Minuttia.
The assignment was straightforward: help a client identify topics for their next batch of content, covering net new pages and content updates.
Here is how I structured it:
The Why
This client is one of our larger engagements, and the relationship is long-term.
Because of that, many moving parts are in play: our team creates content and the client reviews and edits, with back-and-forth until each piece goes live.
All of that takes time, and if we are not proactive about planning ahead, we end up with backlog.
At Minuttia, we use a framework called 3-2-1:
plan the content schedule 3 months ahead
have content briefs ready 2 months ahead
and complete content creation 1 month ahead.
We had noticed a few delays on the client side, and the pipeline was at risk of creating a backlog.
The why in this case was clear:
If we do not act now, we fall behind that cadence, and backlog becomes a real problem.
The What
Build out the topic queue for the next quarter.
Identify and categorize topics, then give our team a clear pipeline to work from.
The How
Even though this strategist is experienced and knows the client well, I shared a couple of angles I wanted her to consider.
Specific content types the client had been asking about, and a few areas where I thought coverage was thin.
My guidance was light because her context was deep, but it was still there.
The call took fifteen minutes.
The outcome was a clear pipeline, built with a full understanding of why timing mattered and which angles deserved extra attention.
Why the sequence matters
You can share all three components and still lose the effect if the order is wrong.
Opening with the what and then articulating the why feels like justification after the fact.
The sequence is the framework: why first, what second, how third
I have also noticed that the why is the part most leaders skip, assuming their team already understands the reason behind a request.
Sometimes they do, and often they do not.
Even when they sort of understand it, hearing you spell out the why signals that you have thought this through, which builds trust in the direction you are setting.
Author’s Note: You would be surprised how often explaining the why to someone else helps you sharpen your own thinking.
Final Thoughts
What I want you to take away from this note is the importance of sequencing task requests and assignments using a framework like the one I shared.
If sharing just the what is enough and works well for you, you’re lucky.
For the rest of us, starting with the why behind the task and closing with the how is essential for getting what we want in the workplace.
Why first. What second. How third. Simple to remember, hard to do consistently!
Thank you for reading today’s note, and see you again next week.
Research Disclaimers and Limitations
GrowthWaves and its author are not sponsored by or compensated by any company mentioned in this note. This is independent editorial analysis and does not constitute investment, financial, or legal advice. The author may have relationships with, work with, or hold equity in companies referenced; however, no content in this piece was influenced, commissioned, or incentivized by any such relationship. AI tools were used as a research assistant in the preparation of this piece. All claims are sourced and linked throughout.